Currently, getting ready for me means fighting a sinus infection and creating a playlist while running way less miles than I'm used to.

During my last marathon, I listened to Mindy Kaling's audiobook (Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?), which was great! It did a fantastic job of distracting me from the run and even made me laugh aloud a few times. However, for NYC, I think I need more motivation than a comedian talking about girl drama and TV shows.

I did not put songs on this playlist based on what I currently like the most, rather I populated the playlist with songs that will motivate me to push through the pain. Some of this involves the reinterpretation of songs.

For instance, the popular "Sucker for Pain" from the Suicide Squad soundtrack is definitely not about how I'm such a badass because I run marathons. It's about crazy people who like to hurt people. But I'm going to pretend it's about me being awesome/crazy (in a good way).

"You Can't Stop Me" by Andy Mineo is about him following his calling to become a rapper despite the odds/what people say about him. But I obviously pretend it's about me being an unstoppable badass runner.

You get my drift. Every song is about me being a badass. That's what I need, okay?

A lot of running is about lying to yourself -- about how hard things are and about how far you have left and about how far you've gone so far, etc. And I've just expanded that to now include what the songs on your playlist are actually about.